Bijan Rafiekian Pleads Not Guilty To Charges He Covertly Lobbied For Turkey

Bijan Rafiekian, also known as Bijan Kian, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to charges he covertly lobbied for Turkey to discredit and extradite a Muslim cleric living in the US. A former director at the US Export-Import Bank who worked on US President Donald Trump’s transition, Rafiekian, 66, was indicted on Monday for undisclosed lobbying and for allegedly lying about their work.

Faced with the reality that the world will not rally around a US-led war against Iran, the Trump administration seeks to resurrect the specter of IS to manufacture international support for its continued military presence in the Middle East.